If you drive by the Oak Bowl bowling alley on Midway some weekday mornings you might be surprised to see a packed parking lot. If you stop and go inside, you will hear the chatter of a packed house, the rumbling of bowling balls and the clatter of knocked over pins. You also just might get see some pretty good bowling.

Recently two Oak Harbor senior bowlers posted some impressive numbers.

On Nov. 5, Don Boatright bowled an impressive 809 series. Boatright, an Oak Harbor resident who is retired from the Navy, scored a 265, 279, and a 265 for what he described was his “best series ever.” In more than 40 years of bowling the 57-year old has rolled one 300-game.

Between throwing strikes last Wednesday, Boatright good-naturedly endured ribbing from his friends about his big day.

“I think he paid the pin setter,” joked Blaine, one of Boatright’s bowling compatriots. “Actually he’s our mentor. Everything he throws goes down.”

Another compadre quipped, “An 800 series is hard to come by, he’s very spry for a 57-year-old. He’s one of the best and I vouch for that.”

Bowling in lanes five and six – his “lucky lanes” – and the same lanes where he rolled his 800-series, Boatright downplayed his achievement.

“To roll that, the pins have to carry good and the lanes have to be loose. I was just lucky the pins went down.”

Earlier in the bowling season another member of the seniors’ league bowled a stellar game. Bob Pluth, 80, rolled a 290 on Sept. 29, the first league day of the season. At one point Pluth tallied 11 straight strikes that day.

“That was my best game, it was once in a lifetime,” said the retired Navy chief. “It was like someone greased the ally for me.”

Pluth rolled a 721 series that day and saw his name go on the big board with all the other high scores. He bowls three times a week and had just finished rolling a 202 in his first game of the day.

Said league president Chuck Trott about Pluth’s big game, “It was just great to see Bob get that, I gave him six ABC (American Bowling Congress) awards and a plaque for his game.”

Three days a week the senior bowlers gather at Oak Bowl to shoot the breeze, needle their buddies, play cards, and most importantly, bowl.

With 50-plus bowlers there is quite a following. The senior leagues run three times a week from 10 a.m to noon. According to Oak Bowl manager John Youngsman it can be quite busy.

“It’s (ages) 50-plus to eighties, we have lots of retirees. One guy is 87,” Youngsman said.

“A lot of our bowlers have been here for 20-plus years. They have a lot of fun down here, everyone seem to have a good time and be happy.”